


Bee's 2017 Christmas Album

by dont-tell-them-i-write-phan (QueenBoudicatheGreat)



Series: The Great Tumblr Migration [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22839952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBoudicatheGreat/pseuds/dont-tell-them-i-write-phan
Summary: I wrote one-shots for the 12 days of Christmas. That's it.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: The Great Tumblr Migration [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641895
Kudos: 4





	1. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Dan took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the café. As always, it was a bright, warm haven from the cold December afternoon, and a couple uni students were sitting around desperately poring over textbooks and chugging cheap black coffee. He stepped up to the counter where Louise was standing with the same bright smile she always gave him. “Same as usual then?” she asked, already typing into the cash register.

“Yeah, just a chai latte, thanks,” Dan muttered distractedly, looking around the mostly empty room for a specific mess of black hair.

“You beat him in today, love,” Louise piped up, steaming milk with a little smirk.

Dan whirled around on her, face flushed pink. “Wh-what? I d- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Louise looked up with his drink in one hand and an innocent smile. “What was that? I didn’t say anything. Three pound fifty, please.”

Cheeks warm and ears ringing, Dan took his drink, handed over a five pound note, told Louise to keep the change, and settled down in his favorite chair. It was right next to the window for optimal people watching, it had easy access to both a power outlet and a table, and it was the squishiest and most comfortable armchair Dan had ever sat in. But the most important reason it was his favorite was because it offered the perfect view of another chair and the person who routinely sat in it. A person who usually showed up before Dan.

“Hi, Louise!”

Dan’s head snapped up from his laptop to see that specific person blow into the café, clutching a notebook to his chest. His hair was a mess from the London wind, his cheeks were flushed pink from the cold, and his eyes sparkled in the light. As Dan watched, those blue eyes fell on him, and his blush returned in full force. He quickly turned his attention to his laptop screen, but was far more focused on listening to what this person and Louise were about to say to one another.

“Hello, Phil!” Louise chirped, and Dan didn’t have to be watching to know she gave him a pointed look. He blushed and buried himself further in his music writing.

“Hi, Louise!” the person, who was apparently named Phil, beamed. “How’s it been?”

“Bit slow, really,” Louise shrugged. “What would you like today?”

Phil hummed, and Dan imagined him tapping his chin and looking at the menu. “I’m feeling a bit festive, so how about a gingerbread latte?”

Dan surreptitiously looked up from his laptop while Phil and Louise chatted as she made him his drink, then Phil went and sat in his preferred chair. When he was comfortable, he pulled out a tattered notebook, popped in his ear buds and began scribbling away at the pages. Dan watched with a small, fond smile on his face for a minute before Phil suddenly snapped his head up and looked Dan directly in the eye. Dan froze like a deer in the headlights for a moment and was about to figure out how to set himself on fire. But then Phil smiled directly at him, and Dan’s world completely lit up. His breath hitched, but he somehow managed to return the smile with a shaky one of his own and a small wave.

Phil went back to whatever it was he was doing, and Dan let out a sigh of relief before doing the same thing.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

A week later, Dan was back at the cafe like he always was, and he noticed Phil was once again late. He’d been later than Dan every day since Dan had learned his name. He’s bothered Louise about it enough that she had given in and demanded his phone number so that she could give him Phil updates. So far, there hadn’t been any, but he had gotten several pictures of Louise’s adorable little girl, so he supposed that was a fair trade.

“Dan, you’re here!” Louise beamed when she saw him. “I have a Christmas gift for you!”

Dan flushed deeply and started stuttering. “Louise, I- I can’t- You didn’t- I mean, I-”  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Louise insisted. “I always get gifts for my favorites.”

“But I didn’t get you anything,” Dan protested.

Louise gave him a flat look before raising an eyebrow and plainly saying, “Daniel Howell, if you don’t accept my gift, you’re going to hurt my feelings.”

Dan deflated. “You win.”

“Brilliant!” she grinned, then ducked down under the counter to retrieve a leather bound notebook. “I know you’re always doing your music stuff on your laptop, but I really do think you’ll find this useful.”

Dan smiled and took the notebook. “I’m letting you know now that I’m going to bring you a present before Christmas, and it’s going to be thoughtful as heck,” he teased.

Louise laughed, and handed over his drink, and he handed over the money, then went and sat in his spot. He pulled out his laptop and opened his music writing software. Before long, he lost himself to the rhythmic clicking and typing and listening to clips over and over to make sure they were perfect. In fact, he was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t notice someone coming over to stand right next to him until they reached out and knocked on the table his drink was sat on.

“Uh, hi,” Phil said awkwardly, as Dan gaped up at him. “I think you have something of mine?”

“Wha?” _Wow, Dan. That was clever._

“My notebook,” Phil explained, gesturing to the notebook Louise had given him. “I left it here yesterday, and Louise said you picked it up to return it today.”

Dan just continued to stare at him for a minute before all the pieces fell into place. He was going to kill Louise. “Oh! Yeah, here you go! Glad you got it back.”

Phil smiled at him and took the notebook. “Sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

“Dan,” he answered a little too quickly. He cleared his throat as his cheeks warmed and tried again. “My name is Dan.”

Phil beamed. “Good to meet you, Dan. Thanks again for my notebook.”

Dan smiled after him, and when his back was turned he shot Louise a dirty look. She just snickered and returned it with a blow kiss and a big thumbs up. He rolled his eyes and went back to his laptop. Less than ten minutes later, his phone buzzed and he picked it up, expecting it to be a text from Louise, but it was an unknown number.

**020 7946 0437**

**Yes**

Dan furrowed his brow and started typing.

**Me**

**yes what? who r u?**

**020 7946 0437**

**Ah, sorry! This is Phil. The guy in the coffee shop?**

Dan whipped his head up to see Phil give him a little wave before he was typing on his phone.

**020 7946 0437**

**I don’t know why you didn’t just ask me out whenever we were talking, but if the offer still stands i’d love to go on a date.**

Dan bit his lip and looked up at Phil again. Maybe he wouldn’t kill Louise after all

**Dan**

**offer def stands. how does friday at 7 sound? meet here?**

**020 7946 0437**

**Sounds perfect!** **See you then!**

Dan grinned to himself and immediately started planning.


	2. The Christmas Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil finally plucks up the courage to ask the street musician he visits every day to have lunch with him.

Phil glanced up at the clock on his desk and grinned when he saw that the hour had ticked to one o’clock. He stood, bid his coworkers adieu and popped his head into the supervisor’s office. “Ted, I’m headed off to lunch.”

Ted looked up from his paperwork, almost startled. “Is it already one? Jesus, where has the day gone? Alright, see you in an hour, Phil.”

With that dismissal, Phil grabbed his coat and stepped out into the frigid afternoon. He burrowed deeper into his coat, and scurried to the sandwich shop a few doors down. He ignored the knowing look of the cashier when he ordered two sandwiches along with a coffee and hot chocolate, and stepped back outside. He turned his feet south and determinedly started walking towards the park.

Before he had even managed to step foot in the gate, he heard the familiar guitar and mellow singing he had come to know so well. Sure enough, Dan Howell was sat on a stool, playing a guitar and crooning into a mic attached to a small sound system. When he spied Phil walking up, his pretty brown eyes sparkled and got prettier, but he finished his song before addressing Phil further. While he waited for Dan to finish, Phil dropped a five pound note in the open case at Dan’s feet, and settled himself down on a nearby bench.

When Dan was finished, Phil clapped and gave him a wide grin. “Bravo!”

Dan grinned and tucked himself over his guitar in a way that put his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. “Stop teasing me, you asshole.”

Phil clasped a hand to his heart and gasped. “I am _nothing_ if not sincere.”

Dan laughed, and Phil could almost feel the warmth seeping into his bones at the sound. “Well, I’ve got music to play.”

“Will you play me a Christmas song?” Phil asked, batting his eyelashes.

Dan playfully narrowed his eyes at him. “You of all people know I don’t take requests.”

Phil hummed and tapped his chin. “And what if I sweetened the pot with a hot sandwich and a cup of coffee?”

Dan’s eyes widened and Phil was admittedly pleased to see a light pink blush dusting his cheeks. “What?”

Phil cleared his throat and offered an almost sheepish glance. “I mean, I’ve been coming to eat lunch here for a couple weeks now, and I thought it might be nice to actually eat lunch with you. Don’t get me wrong, I love listening to you play, but I think I’d also really like talking to you for more than 30 seconds at a time while you catch your breath.”

Dan cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. “I… I actually don’t know any Christmas songs.”

Phil laughed and flapped away his concerns. “Dan, do you really not realize I’m trying to get you to eat lunch with me? I don’t actually care about Christmas songs.”

Dan bit his lip for a second, then slid off his stool, put his guitar up, and sat next to Phil on his bench. “Well? What did you get?”

Phil grinned at him and handed over the tin-wrapped sandwich. “The sandwich shop I go to sells this thing called a ‘Grown Up Grilled Cheese’ and it’s basically just a normal grilled cheese, but with fancy cheese, bacon and caramelized onions. It sounded good in theory, but I don’t like cheese, so I don’t actually know.”

Dan froze in the middle of unwrapping his sandwich and looked at Phil in horror. “You don’t like cheese? Are you even a human person?”

Phil laughed and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. I mean, I’m lactose intolerant, but I didn’t like cheese before I figured that tidbit out.”

Dan blinked at him for a second, then chuckled and went back to unwrapping his sandwich. “Learn something new every day.”

Phil bit his tongue to stifle a giggle and pressed on. “So, how has your day been?”

Dan shrugged and crunched down on the sandwich. “Honestly, a bit slow. It’s usually pretty slow before lunch on weekdays. I think they’re all avoiding you.”

Phil sputtered out a laugh and Dan’s chest puffed out with pride. “Well, I’ll be happy to leave if it means more people will come.”

“Are you kidding?” Dan scoffed. “You’re my favorite regular. I wouldn’t trade you for a dozen new tippers.”

Phil felt every blood cell as it rushed to his cheeks and he bit his lower lip. “What about 13 new tippers?”

“Well, in that case…” Dan trailed off, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Phil laughed brightly, and when he looked at Dan his cheeks were aching. They continued to ache as he and Dan ate and drank and talked about every topic they could set their minds to. Phil talked about how much he loved video production, Dan talked about all the fun acting jobs he was taking in the evenings. Phil sheepishly admitted how Animal Crossing sapped up all his free time, and Dan passionately explained just how Frank Ocean’s album made him weak. It felt like seconds, but soon Phil’s lunch break was over and he was sadly turning off his phone alarm.

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to go.” He glanced over at Dan who somehow managed to looked even more bummed out than he did. Phil sucked in a lungful of cold December air for courage and shoved his phone in Dan’s face. “CanIhaveyourphonenumber?”

Dan, looking more like a startled rabbit than anything else, took the phone on reflex then looked up at Phil. “I don’t know your passcode.”

Phil smacked himself on the forehead, and Dan giggled. “Right.” He snatched the phone, typed in the code and handed it back. “There. That should work.”

Dan folded one hand over his nose to hide his grin and started typing. “You’d better text me tonight,” Dan warned. “Text me your favorite Christmas song so I know it’s actually you.”

Phil nodded eagerly and shoved the phone back in his pocket. He said his last goodbyes and practically skipped back to work.

**My favorite Christmas song is probably The Christmas Song**

**wtf does that even mean phil?**

**You know! The Christmas Song!**

**i’ll take your word for it.**

Phil was somehow even more eager for his lunch break today than he’d been yesterday. He and Dan had texted all night and Dan said he had a surprise for him today. As usual, he told his coworker goodbye, checked out with his boss and went downstairs. This time, though, he went to a Chinese takeaway place Dan swore was the best in all of London. It was a bit of an extra walk, but if the smell was anything to go by, it was more than worth the trip.

He made his way to the park where Dan was playing his guitar, and put in another 5 pound note, ignoring Dan’s rolled eyes. “Come eat with meee,” he whined as soon as Dan finished his last note.

Dan snickered at his enthusiasm, but Phil couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed. “Hold your horses, I have a surprise for you.”

Dan cleared his throat, took a deep breath and strummed out a familiar chord. “ _Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose_.”

Phil’s eyes widened, but Dan just kept singing, his eyes warm and his smile wide. When he was finished, Phil jumped to his feet and Dan barely had time to yank his guitar out of the way before Phil had him wrapped up in his arms. “Well, if it wasn’t my favorite Christmas song before, it is now,” Phil said and neither were sure if his voice was wobbling from laughter or tears.

Dan melted into the hug and buried his face in Phil’s neck. “You know what? I think it might be mine, too.”


	3. It Really Is A Wonderful Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Dan and Phil’s first Christmas as a couple. Dan’s not really invested in the holiday, but maybe Phil’s rubbing off on him

“ _The snow is falling like it does every year!_ ”

Dan rolled his eyes and leaned over to change the music station in the back of their Uber home, but Phil snatched his hand away. Dan felt his breath catch in his throat, and he looked at Phil who was giving him a soft, warm smile. They’d been dating for eight months, but they had recently moved in together, and Dan’s chest still felt warm and tight when Phil looked at him like that. It probably always would.

“I kinda like this song,” Phil admitted sheepishly. “Besides, it’s after December 1st, so it’s okay to listen to Christmas music now.”

Dan blinked at him but shrugged and dropped his hand to tangle his fingers with Phil’s. “Alright, you win. I’ll listen to the cheesy Christmas music.”

Phil beamed at him, but something outside the window caught his attention and he dropped Dan’s hand to gleefully stare out the window. “Dan! It’s snowing! First of the season!”

Dan laughed and looked out his own window. The “snow” Phil was so thrilled about was no more than a couple dozen flurries that melted the moment they hit the ground. Dan hardly counted it as real snow, but when Phil looked that delighted over frozen water, there was no way Dan was going to point that out.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“I just don’t see what the big deal is,” Dan scoffed, peering around the massive fir tree to look for his boyfriend who had mysteriously disappeared the moment they stepped foot on the tree lot.

“Because they’re pretty and smell great,” Phil replied easily, seemingly popping out of thin air at Dan’s side.

“I have a really nice fake tree and nobody would know if we just got some air freshener,” Dan pointed out.

Phil shrugged. “There’s just something magical about having a real tree,” he explained. “I haven’t had room for one in any of my apartments and I miss them from when I was a kid. You know?”

“Not really. We always had a fake tree when I was growing up.”

Phil whirled around and looked at Dan in horror. “You mean you’ve _never_ had a real tree?”

Dan laughed and cocked an eyebrow. “And if I say no? Are you going to hunt down my parents and shame them?”

Phil rolled his eyes. “No, but that does solidify my resolve to get a real tree.” He looked at Dan with those blue eyes sparkling with childlike wonder and grinned. “Come on, let’s pick out a tree.”

A surprised laugh bubbled out of Dan’s chest and he let Phil drag him along down the aisles of pine trees.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“Absolutely not. No way. I’m _not_ doing that, Phil.”

“Oh, come on, Daaann,” Phil wheedled. He grabbed Dan’s Pomeranian who was stuffed in a tiny dog sweater and gently wriggled him back and forth in Dan’s face. “Look, Bubbles likes his sweater.” Bubbles’ tongue flopped out of his little mouth and he looked like he was having the time of his life.

“Yeah, but Bubbles is a pushover,” Dan pointed out. “I’d like to see you get Ribena in an ugly sweater like that.”

“Already did,” Phil beamed. “I just covered it in catnip and she was totally cool with it.”

“And what about Thor?” Dan demanded, grasping at straws now. “There’s no way you popped down to Tesco and found a badger sweater.”

“Of course not.”

“Ha! Then we can’t-”

“That’s why all three of these were custom made by someone on Etsy.”

Dan dragged a hand down his face. “You’re really gonna make me do this, aren’t you?”

“Not if you really don’t want to,” Phil insisted. “But I would really like you to.”

Dan took one look at Phil’s pleading look and sighed. “Just give me the fucking sweater.”

Two days later Phil came home with the printed out cards that proudly stated “Merry Christmas from Dan, Phil, Ribena, Bubbles, and Thor!” Dan was struggling to hold up Ribena’s massive, completely stoned body and Phil was holding up Thor who looked like she was about to melt out of his arms and Bubbles was sat on Thor’s head looking more than pleased with himself. Dan had to admit that they looked pretty spectacular, but maybe one year they could just shorten it to “Merry Christmas from the Howell-Lesters.”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Dan woke up to the sound of crashing and just stayed in bed, keeping his eyes firmly shut. He patted around on Phil’s side of the bed and figured out that both Phil and his pet badger were missing and had been for a while. Ribena was still in bed, stretched out from his chest almost all the way down to his knees, but he heard Bubbles yapping happily from the kitchen where the crash was.

“I have to go see what he’s done now,” Dan wheezed to his cat. Ribena opened one eye to look at him, then closed it and went straight back to sleep. “You’re the worst,” Dan informed her, squirming out from under her heavy body. She opened her eyes to slits and flexed her claws to they pressed into Dan’s skin, but didn’t actually scratch him, and Dan escaped.

In the kitchen, Dan found Phil standing in a warzone. There was a goopy orange liquid on almost everything, centering on a point where Dan assumed Phil had dropped their pie pans. Bubbles was lapping up some of the orange goop on the wall, and Thor was nowhere to be seen, most likely hiding from the sudden loud noise, and Phil was pouting and covered from head to toe in some kind of baking mess.

“Uhh, what happened?” Dan asked, looking around. “Or do I not want to know?”

“Well, I was trying to bake a pumpkin pie, but the pie was heavier than I thought, so I dropped it,” Phil explained sadly. “It tasted good before I dropped it, though.”

“Bubbles sure seems to think so,” Dan laughed, gesturing to the dog. “Stand still. I’ll help you clean up and then we can work together to make a pie this time.”

Phil beamed at him, and Dan knew he’d said just the right thing.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Dan sighed happily and cuddled deeper into Phil’s side. The snow was falling gently outside, there were brightly wrapped presents under Dan’s first real Christmas tree, a fire was crackling away, all three of the animals were piled up together, and Dan’s belly was full of pizza and wine.

Phil quickly picked up on Dan’s extra clingy attitude, and smiled down at him. “And what’s got you in such a good mood, love?”

Dan grinned and turned his face into Phil’s side to hide his flushed cheeks. “I think this is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”

Phil blinked at him in shock before his cheeks split into a smile so wide it hurt. “Yeah?”

Dan uncovered his face and turned the full force of his hopelessly in love face on Phil. “Yeah, I really think it is.”

Phil bit his lip and said, “You know, I think this is the best Christmas I’ve ever had, too.”

Satisfied, Dan curled back into Phil’s warmth, and started humming an oddly familiar song.

“ _Maybe it is, it really is a wonderful life._ ”


	4. It' Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan always helps out at his dad’s Christmas tree lot, but strictly as a cashier. He wasn’t interested in heavy lifting. Fate and Dan’s dad disagrees when Phil needs help getting his tree home.

Dan drummed his fingers against his desk and burrowed further into his coat and did his best not to openly stare at the man trying to pick a Christmas tree. He’d been wandering up and down the aisles for almost 45 minutes. Not quite long enough for Dan to run out of things to gush about over text to Louise, but definitely long for Dan to question his sanity. They were just trees that were slated to brown and die in the next two weeks, after all. However, this man seemed determined to examine each and every one of them until he had just the perfect one.

Dan watched as his dad put on his least gruff smile and wandered over to the man to either push a sale or get this man off their tree lot. The man turned to Dan’s dad and nodded emphatically, gesturing to the tree he was standing in front of. Dan sighed and grabbed the iPad and cashbox they were using as a register. Dan looked the man over once more with a less appreciative and more critical eye, and went ahead and pulled up the app that let them run credit cards.

“And, this is my son Dan!” Dan’s dad said, escorting the man to Dan’s desk. “He’s going to get you checked out, and then he’ll help you carry your tree home.”

“Hi, I’m Phil,” the man beamed.

But Dan was too busy gaping at his dad to listen. His dad was _always_ carried the trees. He opened his mouth to protest, but at his dad’s silencing look, he shut his mouth. “Thirty five quid,” Dan said tonelessly. Phil’s smile never wavered as he handed over his credit card for Dan to swipe. With the transaction complete, Dan shuffled along behind his dad to help with getting the tree wrapped and ready to haul down the street.

All too soon, Dan was up to his elbows in sticky pine needles, struggling along with Phil. You’d think the son of a tree farmer would be better at this, but the universe is full of jokes.

“Don’t worry,” Phil panted. “My apartment is less than five minutes away.”

“Thank fuck,” Dan wheezed.

Phil chuckled and immediately made a noise that made Dan think he regretted it. “We’re lucky I’m not at my old place. Would have had to go up three flights of stairs.”

“ _You_ would have had to go up three flights of stairs. _I_ would have brought it to your front door and told you to jog on.”

Phil laughed and made another pathetic noise. “Stop being funny,” he whined.

Dan let out a bark of laughter, and quickly understood why Phil was being such a baby. “Sorry,” he coughed around the tight stitch in his chest.

They walked in silence the rest of the way to Phil’s house, and when they made it to the lobby door Dan truly considered making good on his previous promise. But Phil turned bright blue puppy dog eyes on him and said, “I promise there’s an elevator.”

What he didn’t say was that the elevator was absolutely tiny, and after getting the tree in there - wrapped up as it was - they were pressed nearly nose to nose.

“Uh, hi,” Phil said with a sheepish smile.

Dan felt his cheeks warm with Phil’s breath puffing over them, and he determinedly turned his head slightly to the left and refused to look at Phil. “Hello.”

Phil laughed, and Dan had to admit that the sound was actually quite nice when it wasn’t strangled. “So, do you live on the tree farm with your dad?”

Dan shook his head, and tried to ignore the fact that his nose was almost bumping against Phil’s cheek. “I used to, but I started going to uni here, and now I just help out selling them.”

Just then, the elevator doors opened, and it was time to start hauling the tree again. When they made it to Phil’s apartment, Dan was please to see it was just as adorably quirky as the man it belonged to. He offered to help Phil get the base set up, an offer the other man happily accepted. With the tree standing straight and tall, Dan looked around to see if there was any excuse he had to stick around and keep talking to Phil, but there was nothing left to do but decorate the tree.

Phil looked almost sad at the tree, but turned to Dan and smiled. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how lost I would have been without you,” he said emphatically. “Seriously, I haven’t had a real tree since I was a kid and I never set that one up. I was going to just prop this one up against a wall and hope.”

Dan laughed and his cheeks hurt from how wide he was smiling. “Well, if you need any help with it, you know where to find me.”

Phil bit his lip and looked around. He grabbed a small sheet of paper off a nearby table and scribbled something on it. He then pulled a ten pound note, crumpled it and the paper together and shoved them both in Dan’s hand before all but shoving him out the front door. “Merry Christmas!” he said a little too loudly before slamming the door.

Dan gaped at the door in confusion, then looked at the paper and the confusion melted into fond delight.

_I don’t normally hand out my number to just anyone, but you’re really cute and really nice. Anyway, call me_

_020 7946 0437_

_P.S. I’m really nervous, so I’m sorry for whatever I did after I gave this to you. I promise I’m not normally like this._


	5. O Holy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil is playing violin for his uncle’s church’s Church performance. What he wasn’t expecting was the really cute pianist accompanying him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throwback to when everyone was obsessed with the pastel/punk AU

Phil ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the bright blue ends of his fringe in frustration. There was no way in hell that he was going to be able to do this performance. It didn’t matter that he’d promised his uncle months ago that he’d play violin in his church’s cantata. It didn’t matter that he’d been practicing and had the whole show to the point where he could play it near perfectly in his sleep. It didn’t matter that he’d been genuinely looking forward to the chance to play violin and had written a few of the songs himself. What mattered is that he was being accompanied by a pianist. Sure, he’d known about the pianist the whole time and played along with recordings, but he hadn’t known one very important detail.

The pianist was hot.

According to Phil’s uncle, his name was Daniel Howell, and he was a couple years Phil’s junior and in his last year of secondary school. However, all Phil cared about was the curls on his head, the cavernous dimple in his cheek, and the way his legs looked in those black slacks. Like everyone performing that evening, he was wearing a red top, but unlike Phil who just got a silky dark red button up, Dan was wearing a sparkly red sweater that looked like it was deliberately a couple sizes too big. As Phil watched, the sleeves fell down over Dan’s hands as he tried to warm up on the piano. Dan huffed out a breath and shook his arms until they fell back in place, but after about three tries, he figured it was a losing battle and just shoved them up to his elbows. The sweater puffed out around the cuffs like mushrooms, but his hands were free to play piano to his heart’s content.

Phil took a quick minute to psyche himself up before walking up with his most charming grin. _Just introduce yourself, Phil. You’ve got this. There’s no way it can go wrong._ “Hi, my you Phil name’s how are?”

_Well, fuck._

Dan sat frozen for a moment, and just as Phil was about to find some way to descend straight to hell from a church pulpit, he let out a bright giggle. “I’m are you good how?” he grinned, sticking out a hand to shake.

Phil covered his face, which now miraculously matched his shirt, and shook Dan’s hand. “Uh, anyway. I’m Phil. I’m playing violin with you this evening.”

“You’re Phil? I’m Dan. Piano.” Dan asked eagerly. “Mr. Mark’s told us so much about you. I’ve heard your recordings for the violin. You’re really good. Did you really write some of the songs?”

“Thanks,” Phil said shyly, scratching the back of his neck. “I uh, yeah, I wrote some of the songs. Really, they’re just revamps of some of the old hymns my uncle wanted.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve been listening to these songs since before I knew what the words meant, and I can say these are definitely some of the best I’ve ever heard.” Dan beamed at him. “I think my favorite is ‘O Holy Night.’ That’s always been my favorite carol, and your version is really good. I’ve near memorized it on piano.”

Phil felt his flush darken. “Thanks. That one, um, I think that’s my favorite, too.” He then noticed Dan staring at his mouth and realized in mortification that he’d been nervously fiddling with his tongue ring almost their whole conversation. He quickly stopped. “Uh, sorry. I don’t, um. I don’t normally wear this kind of stuff, and I wasn’t going to sing so I didn’t even think to take out that piercing.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dan insisted. “Honestly, this isn’t my usual getup either. I actually had to buy this whole outfit for tonight.”

“What’s your normal style, then?” Phil asked curiously, trying to imagine the younger man in anything but his adorable jumper.

“Here, I’ll show you,” Dan suggested, waving him closer and pulling out his phone. Then he snapped it to his chest and glared playfully at Phil. “But only if you promise to show me what you look like on weekends.”

“Deal,” Phil grinned. Dan showed his phone screen, which was filled with a picture of Dan in a white knee-length skirt and a light blue coat, giving the camera a bright grin and a cheeky peace sign. “Holy shit, you’re adorable.”

Dan sputtered out an awkward laugh and hid his pink cheeks under his hands. “All right, fair’s fair. Show me what you’ve got.”

Phil pulled out his own phone and picked a photo of him and his friends from the last concert they’d gone to. It was a bit over the top from the leather jacket thrown over one shoulder to the heavy combat boots, but he’d looked good that night and he needed to make a good impression. “I’m second from the left. Careful with your fingers; my screen’s shattered and I don’t want you to get cute- I mean, cut.”

Dan cut him a knowing look then refocused on the photo. Phil watched as he zoomed in on Phil’s face and bit his pink lower lip. “You look really good in black,” he said, returning the phone.

Phil took the phone back and grinned. “You should see us when we go really hardcore. You also can’t see any of my tattoos in this picture.”

Dan’s eyes lit up. “Tattoos? Can you show me?”

Phil cleared his throat. “Uh, sure. I’m working on a sleeve on my left arm so you can see up to me elbow on that one. Can’t really show any more without starting to take off my clothes.” Phil started to roll up his sleeve, and was too busy berating himself for saying something so dumb that he missed Dan’s comment about necessary sacrifices.

Dan pored over the ink in Phil’s skin and lifted a finger as if to touch it. “May I?” At Phil’s nod, his fingers traced over the outlines before coming to rest on an intricate cross near his elbow. “Not to be rude, but you don’t seem the type,” he said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry, I’m not,” Phil assured him. “I used to when I was little, but I just don’t think it’s for me anymore, you know? I mean, I’m really happy it works for some people, but I’m not one of them.”

“I get it,” Dan shrugged. “It’s not a good fit for everyone, and that’s okay. I like it.” He gave Phil a shy smile. “So, what’s the story, then? Did you get it when you were still into church, or is it something else?”

“It’s for my mom,” Phil explained. “She’s also really into Christianity, and whenever I see it, it reminds me of her.”  
  


“That’s really sweet, Phil,” Dan smiled softly.

Phil watched Dan run his fingers over his tattoos, suppressing a shudder when the delicate digit passed over his inner wrist. He was silent for a moment before bursting out, “Would you like to go on a date with me?” When Dan just blinked at him again, Phil quickly backpedaled. “I just– I think you’re really cute, and I thought maybe you felt the same, but I could be reading this wrong, in which case, I’d like to die now, thanks.”

Dan laughed at him again, but the sound held no malice and just made Phil feel warm. “How about you ask me again after the show when I’m so wowed by your violin skills I can’t say no?” he smirked.

Just then, Phil’s uncle walked up, looking harried. “We’re starting in five minutes. Get ready, you two.” Then he was gone again.

Phil looked at Dan and grinned, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” Then he turned and trotted back to his position, feeling more confident in his violin skills than he’d ever felt before.


	6. Just the Way You Look Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan sighed. “There’s some stuff in here that might change your opinion of me. Honestly, having it hanging over my head is kinda sucky.”
> 
> Phil narrowed his eyes. “You don’t spend all day drawing furry porn, do you?”

Phil rolled onto his side and just watched Dan with a fond smile. He’d met the first year art student at the beginning of the semester when they’d been assigned as roommates, and Phil had practically fallen in love within the week. When they’d first met, Dan was quiet and shy and stumbled over every over thought word, and Phil had thought he was the most adorable person in the world. Now, after Phil’d been thoroughly vetted as one of Dan’s friends, the younger boy was brash and loud and quick to share his opinion even without being asked, and Phil was in near constant awe at how bright he was. There was genuinely very few things that Phil enjoyed than just observing Dan do whatever little thing he had on his mind. Generally, that thing was drawing in a thick notebook, much like he was doing now.

“Quit staring at me, you weirdo.”

Phil took his eyes up from where he was watching the end of Dan’s pencil sway back and forth through the air to his face which now held a lip-bitten grin. “If I stop, can I see what you’re drawing?”

“Absolutely not, and you know it,” Dan said breezily. He took his eyes from the paper to glance at Phil, but they were back in an instant.

“If you loved me, your best friend whom you’re _supposed_ to love, you’d let me look at your drawings at least once,” Phil pouted.

“Well, this isn’t how I expected to reveal that I’ve secretly hated you this whole time, but, as Shakespeare said, ‘opportunity knocks but once.’” Dan actually stopped drawing for a moment to giggle and shield himself from Phil’s pillow projectile with his sketchbook.

“I’m not going to talk to you if you’re just going to abuse me like this,” Phil sniffed haughtily. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to read.”

“You could study.”

“Dan, we’re on Christmas break,” Phil said, rolling his eyes, and pulling his battered copy of _Ready Player One_ from his book case. “Let me live.”

“All right, all right.”

Phil curled up on his bed against the wall, and dove back onto the adventures of Wade Watt for the upteenth time. Just as he finished the part where Wade clears the copper gate, Phil heard a loud sound from Dan’s side of the room. His head snapped up to see that Dan had fallen fast asleep on his bed, uncomfortably hunched against the wall with his sketchbook lying conveniently open on his lap.

_Don’t do it, Phil a voice in his head warned. It’s a serious breach of trust. Let it be._

_But what if we **accidentally** look at it? _Another, far more convincing voice piped in. _We can just help him lay down, and if we accidentally see something, well, things happen._

Phil bit his lip in thought. He really wanted to see Dan’s drawings, but he also didn’t want to negatively impact their friendship, either. With a sigh, he heaved himself off his bed to go to Dan’s and very deliberately closed the book with his eyes screwed shut. He grabbed it to put on Dan’s desk, but he managed to drop it to the floor with a loud clatter, butterfingers that he was. He bent down to pick it up, and when he stood up, it was to see Dan angrily glaring at him with bright red cheeks.

“Phil, what the _fuck_ ,” Dan spat, snatching the book back. “I told you not to look at this! Why would you think it was okay for you to do it just because I fell asleep?”

“I didn’t look, I swear!” Phil said quickly, hands up in surrender. When Dan just looked at him suspiciously, he guiltily sighed and shifted his weight. “Okay, I did definitely consider looking at it when I saw you were asleep, but I realized it was a huge betrayal of trust, and I would never do that to you, Dan. I shut it with my eyes closed, and I was going to put it on your desk. That’s all that happened, I swear.”

Dan bit his lower lip, and he looked more like the Dan on the first day of class than the Dan Phil had come to call his best friend. He squeezed his book close to his chest and looked up at Phil vulnerably. “You promise you didn’t look in it?”

“Cross my heart, hope to die.”

“Do you want to?”

Phil gawked at Dan who was looking away and offering the sketchbook like a sacrifice to some lost god. “I do, Dan, I really do,” Phil said emphatically. “But I only want to see it if you want me to see it. I don’t want you to let me look just because you feel pressured to or something.”

“I do want you to look,” Dan sighed. “There’s some stuff in here that might change your opinion of me. Honestly, having it hanging over my head is kinda sucky.”

Phil narrowed his eyes. “You don’t spend all day drawing furry porn, do you?”

Dan sputtered out a loud laugh. “Nah, that’s a different skechbook,” he smirked, looking like the Dan Phil knew and loved again. “Let’s see how you like this one before I pull out the big guns.”

Phil grinned, and took the book. He let the book fall open naturally, and did his best to ignore Dan sucking in an anxious breath beside him. He wasn’t sure what to expect on the page, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to see himself, but there he was. Some Phil’s were sleeping or walking or talking or laughing, but they were all him and done in the exact same careful, deliberate style. He flipped to the most recent page to see a half finished picture of himself curled against the wall with a book like he’d been earlier.

“So, yeah, I kind of have a crush on you.”

Phil snapped his eyes up to Dan who was staring at the wall with his arms wrapped tightly around his torso. “You do?” Phil asked intelligently.

Dan shot him a weak dirty look. “Don’t tease me, asshole.”

“I’m not!” Phil insisted, his excitement growing. “Dan! This is fantastic!”

“And just why is that?”

“Because I like you, too!”

Whatever Dan thought Phil was going to say, that wasn’t it. He froze and just stared at Phil, open mouthed. Phil was worried that maybe he was broken. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’ve had a super embarrassing crush on you since like the second week of school,” Phil admitted, hopping up on the bed next to Dan. “I just thought you were really cute and shy and I liked you.”

Dan bit his lip. “And what about now? I’m not exactly quiet once you get to know me.”

“Honestly, that’s just made it better for me,” Phil beamed. “You’re just really loud and fun and I _always_ have a great time around you, even when we’re both being quiet.”

Dan cleared his throat. “Well, in that case, will you go on a date with me, Phil?”

Phil’s smile widened impossibly. “Let me grab my coat and we can go now!”

“Wait! Phil! That’s not what I meant!”

But Phil had already grabbed his coat and left, leaving Dan to scurry after him into the snow.


	7. Baby It's Cold Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a blind date, Dan finds himself unable to get home because of a flash blizzard

Dan was going to kiss Louise right on the mouth next time he saw her. Or, well, maybe he wouldn’t, considering how well this date was going. He’d been understandably hesitant when she’d come home and said she’d scheduled a blind date for him with zero input on his end, but it had worked out better than he could have ever hoped. Phil had been absolutely amazing all evening at dinner and they’d gotten on like a house on fire. He’d offered to walk Phil home, but when they got to the door, Phil looked up and shyly offered him a drink upstairs. Dan had eagerly (maybe a bit too eagerly, but whatever) accepted and they’d wound up playing Mario Kart and drinking hot chocolate by the fire on the floor of Phil’s lounge.

However, all good things must come to an end, and Dan knew Louise was probably sat in their lounge looking at the clock seeing as it was already past one. He sat down his controller and turned to Phil. “Well, I think it’s about time for me to get home.”

Phil looked like he was about to pout before something caught his eye out the window. He cleared his throat and said, “I, uh, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Dan’s blood froze and he started going through everything he knew about self-defense. He’d only ever seen GIFs on Tumblr, but it was better than just accepting what happened to him. “Why?” he snapped, glaring.

“Well, I hate to sound like a cliche, but I think it’s legitimately too cold outside for you to make it.”

Dan furrowed his brow and looked out the window, only to see a swirling mass of white. The soft flurries that had danced around them as they walked to Phil’s had unionized and were now a force to be reckoned with. “Well, shit.”

“I haven’t seen a flash blizzard this bad pretty much ever,” Phil admitted. “We used to get pretty bad snow every winter up North, but we always had at least some kind of warning.”

“I could get a cab,” Dan mused, narrowing his eyes.

“I doubt even the bravest cabbies would brave this weather for a couple bucks.”

“I could probably make it home.” Mind made up, Dan got up and started putting on his hat, scarf and gloves.

“Dan, it’s up to your knees, and weren’t you wearing a sweater with holes in it?”

“Lend me a coat then.”

“I’m pretty sure if you leave, you’ll catch pneumonia and die. That would be truly tragic.”

“How am I going to explain this to Louise? You know her. I live with her so can you even imagine the looks I’m gonna get if I stay the night at yours on the first date?”

“I get it,” Phil said. “I really do, but I’m telling you that I don’t think you’d survive getting to the corner in this weather. Look, I’ll set up the couch to sleep on, and you can take my bed. Nothing’s going to happen, I promise, but I really think you should stay.”

Dan bit his lower lip, looked at Phil’s earnest face and smiled. “Well, I guess there’s no arguing with you. Looks like you’ve got a guest for the night, Lester.”

Phil beamed. “I’ll get the blankets.”


	8. Winter Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a last-minute attempt to get away from his family for the holidays, Dan rents a cabin in the woods of North Western America. He knows for a fact that this Christmas will be the perfect Christmas no matter how hard he tries. 
> 
> Meanwhile, Phil is running from his feelings and responsibilities by hiding out in his aunts’ cabin. He knows it’s not a perfect solution, but he needs to get away from his usual Christmas traditions. 
> 
> As they say, great minds think alike, but maybe sharing a cabin with a stranger wasn’t what they meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might be looking at that summary and think "Hey, that sounds like it would be longer than the rest of these one shots," and you would be right. This was supposed to be a several chapter fic that never happened WHOOPS

The snow was falling lightly on the mountain, but the narrow road that wound up it stayed clear and cut a dark spiral through the white powder. A lone bright yellow cab made its slow but steady trek up. The December air was cold, but inside was warm and soft Christmas music played over the speakers. The driver just hummed and drummed his fingers against the wheel to the tune of the song, but his passenger in the back seat was staring out the window and talking on the phone. **  
**

 _“Dan, I can’t believe you’ve run off to America and left me here alone at Christmas_ ,” Louise whined across the line. “ _You could have at least given me a warning so I had a chance to give you your Christmas present. Now I’ll have to wait until New Years to give it to you and that’s just ridiculous._ ”

“People give each other Christmas gifts late all the time,” Dan corrected her. Remember year before last when we were both so busy that we didn’t manage to get our gifts delivered until February.”

“ _That was awful! We swore we’d never speak of it again! I had a wrapped gift on my hearth for almost three months!_ ” 

“Actually, we never swore to anything, you just told me not to,” Dan smirked. “Besides, that’s just proof that you’ll be fine keeping my gift for an extra week. If you want you can come pick me up from the airport and give it to me then.”

“ _You wish. I don’t give festivity deserters rides anywhere_.”

“You’re so mean to me,” Dan whined half-heartedly. As he said this, the car rolled to a halt, but when he looked outside, the cabin was nowhere to be seen. “Anyway, I have to go. I’ll call you when I get settled.” He hung up and leaned forward to get the driver’s attention. “Hey, why are we stopped?”

“This is as far as I can take you,” the driver explained. “That’s the driveway, but it requires four-wheel drive, which I don’t have. Sorry, but I gotta leave you here.”

Dan quickly pulled up his maps and groaned. “But I have luggage! And it’s snowing!”

“Sorry, pal,” the driver shrugged. “Nothing I can do.”

Muttering darkly to himself, Dan paid the man and got his bags out of the back of the car, relieved that he’d left in such a hurry that he didn’t have time to pack as much as he normally would have. Thankfully, the snow was light, and he started his hike through the woods. About three minutes in, he discovered that his shoes were not at all designed for this, and all he could do was hope that his sneakers weren’t ruined.

Ten minutes later, he made it to the cabin and was surprised to see an old beat up blue truck parked outside. He assumed it belonged to a groundskeeper or cleaner and shrugged. Maybe they’d be willing to show him where everything was. As soon as he hauled his things up the last few stairs, he immediately started shedding his damp clothes and made a beeline for the lounge (or should he call it a “living room” now that he was in America?) to start a fire and get warmed up. Much to his surprise, there was already a small fire crackling away happily, so he sat down right in front of it, and let his eyes slip closed at the feeling of warmth.

“Uh, hello?”

Dan’s eyes snapped open to see a man, probably around his height, standing in front of him with a confused expression and a thick blanket. Dan smiled and offered a hand. “Hi, I’m Dan; I’m renting this place for the next couple weeks. Do you work here?”

“Uh, no, I don’t work here,” the man said, and Dan could hear a familiar accent coloring his tone. “And what do you mean you’re ‘renting’ it?”

“I mean I went on Airbnb and booked it through New Year’s,” Dan said. “And if you don’t work here, what are you doing here?”  
  


“This is my aunts’ place,” he said. “They’re letting me stay here for the holidays while they’re in Italy.”

Dan flushed darkly and covered his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry. I must have the wrong address or something.”

The man laughed. “No problem. Who are you renting from? I haven’t been here for years, but I may know them. I could give you a ride so you don’t have to walk.”

Still a bit rosey-cheeked, Dan smiled up at him. “That would be great. I’m renting from the Moore-Davies and their place is called Badger Rest. Do you know it?”

The man sputtered. “I, uh, yeah, I know it.”

Dan beamed. “Great! Let me grab my stuff and I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

The man groaned. “No, look. I know Badger Rest because my aunts are Sara and Jessica Moore-Davies. I convinced them to name it Badger Rest because this is where I got my pet badger.”

“Jessica Moore-Davies is your aunt?” Dan clarified. “The same Jessica Moore-Davies that I’ve been chatting with for a week about renting this place?”

“Yeah,” the man said. “She married my Aunt Sara, who I talked to day before yesterday. They must not have talked to each other about letting people stay here.”

“What am I gonna do?” Dan moaned, burying his face in his hands.

“Hey, hey, don’t worry!” the man said, a twinge of panic to his voice. “I’m not going to kick you out or anything. You paid good money to stay here, I’m sure. Besides, I doubt you have anywhere around here to stay anyway. If you want, we can share. At least for today.”

Dan peered up at him through his fingers. “You’d really do that for me?”

The man grinned. “Of course! Besides, this works out. Now I can be sure that you’re not going to throw any wild house parties and ruin my aunts’ cabin.”

Dan snorted. “As if I could throw a party.”

The man chuckled and offered a hand. “Phil Lester is the name. I was about to get started on dinner. Do you have a problem eating stir-fry? I’m not the best at cooking, but I think I’ve got this down at least.”

Dan took the hand and surprised Phil by using it to pull himself to his feet. “Dan Howell. Do you want some help cooking?”

“Yeah!” Phil nodded. “Careful with the cabinets, though. I’m notorious for leaving them open and I don’t want you to hit your head on the corner or anything.”

“Duly noted.”

Together, they chopped vegetables and sauteed meat and cooked rice, chatting the entire time. There was one instance where Phil almost caught a tea towel fire, but Dan managed to snatch it off the hot eye before any real damage could be done. As they talked Dan quickly learned that he and Phil had basically the same set of interests, just with varying levels of enthusiasm. When Dan learned that Phil had brought his entire Switch system and several games, he almost kissed him.

“Dinner was great, thanks,” Dan sighed, letting his eyes slip closed with a contented sigh.

“I’d say you’re welcome, but you kicked me off the stove halfway through,” Phil teased.

Dan grinned. “I said what I said.”

Phil snickered. “Do you want to play Mario Kart? I’ll pick up the dishes if you go get everything set up.”

“You are like a gift from god.”

“Sure. Give me your plate.”

Dan did as he was told and scurried off to set up their game. Phil had only gotten to the cabin less than an hour before Dan, so the system was still in its traveling case on the floor next to the TV. Thankfully, setup didn’t take too long, and after he untangled and plugged in the wires, Dan was shuffling through Phil’s games. At first he’d thought it was adorable that Phil carried his games around in their original boxes instead of a travel case like everyone else, but soon learned that Phil was an actual demon.

“Hey, so I–”

“These are all in the wrong cases, you absolute trollop!” Dan interrupted gently chucking the box for Mario Odyssey (which contained Zelda) at Phil’s shins.

Phil just giggled with no shame. “I’m pretty sure Mario Kart is in the Splatoon case.”

Dan shot him a glare and opened the box, sure enough finding Mario Kart right where Phil said it would be. “You’re an awful, despicable person,” Dan informed, sitting himself on the couch next to Phil as the menu screen popped up. He handed the blue controler over to Phil who quickly selected the game.

“Who do you normally play as?” Phil asked casually, roaming his cursor over all the characters, not stopping on one for too long.

“Usually, I just play as my Mii, but I don’t have that here so I guess I’ll be one of the Squid Kids. You?”

“Uuuuhhh,” Phil frantically switched from character to character until he finally decided. “Tanooki Mario!”  
  


Dan cut him a playful side glare as Phil picked a cup and course and the race started. “Is this your way of telling me you’re a furry?”

“I dunno,” Phil said, totally deadpan, more focused on the game. “Is this your way of telling me you’re whatever a squid furry is called?”

Dan laughed. “First of all, definitely yes. Second, I guess they’d be squishies or something? I mean technically furries are all manner of anthropomorphised animals, so furry works anyway.”

Phil sputtered out a laugh. “Alright, good to know. Not sure I want to know how you know that, but I guess I’m glad I do now.”

“Oh, please. It’s like you don’t even internet, Phil.”

“Stop making me laugh, this is cheating!” Phil giggled as his character was fished out of the water.

“Maybe you should just get better at Mario Kart. Wait– Hey!” Dan laughed as Phil abandoned his own controler to try and knock Dan’s from his hands. “This is blatant cheating.”

“Maybe you should just get better at Mario Kart,” Phil mocked. They tussled for a moment before the final horns sounded on the game.

Dan glanced at the screen, gaping. “ _Fifth_? I came in _fifth_?” Phil was now wheezing with laughter, so Dan tossed his controller aside to continue their miniature wrestling match, this time with more tickling.

“Stop, stop, you win!” Phil choked out. Dan backed off and they laid there panting for a moment before Phil looked over with a wide grin. “So, round two?”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

They played Mario Kart into the night, later than Dan was happy to admit, but when Dan fell asleep mid-race, they decided to call it quits. That’s when realization washed over Dan. “Phil there’s only one bed here.”

Phil grimaced. “I totally forgot about that. Maybe they have and air mattress somewhere?”

Dan was doubtful. “I dunno, your aunt was pretty adamant about making sure I knew there was only one bed.”

“Yeah, but we might as well look.”

“Might as well. I’ll check the bedroom, you check the hall closet.”

“I’ll check the attic, too,” Phil said. “I know they used to keep all kinds of stuff up there.”

Dan nodded and wandered off down the hall to the bedroom with ensuite. He doubted there was going to be an air mattress stored in the bedroom, but you never knew. He checked the closet and under the bed, but was met with the expected clothes and storage boxes. Nothing even remotely helpful here. The story was the same in the bathroom, and Dan returned to the lounge empty handed.

Phil showed up carrying an armful of blankets, but when he saw Dan with nothing his face fell. “Well, these won’t be very useful.”

“Don’t worry about it, I can just kip on the sofa,” Dan shrugged.

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” Phil protested. “You paid to sleep here, the least I could do is let you use the bed.”

“You were already nice enough by not kicking me out into the snow earlier,” Dan pointed out.

“Any decent human person would do that, though.”

“You’d be surprised at how few decent human people there are.” Seeing Phil’s mouth open to argue, Dan added, “How about this: I’ll take the bed tonight, and if for some reason we’re both still here tomorrow night then we’ll swap.”

“I doubt either of us are going anywhere,” Phil mused. “There’s only one hotel in town, and since it’s going through renovations I doubt there’s going to be any available rooms.”

“Then it’s settled,” Dan decided. “I’ll sleep here tonight, and you can tomorrow.”

Phil shrugged. “I guess that’s fair.” He smiled warmly at Dan. “See you in the morning.”

“Night, Phil.”

They went their separate ways for bed, and Dan changed and curled up on the couch to sleep. It was a nice couch, but there was a metal rod that cut it in half for support that hit him right on the hip, and his long limbs just barely fit on the cushions. However, easily the worst part was how cold it got so quickly. The south wall was made up entirely of windows that overlooked a beautiful, serene lake during the day, but Dan had no idea how quickly it could sap the room of warmth with the fire doused.

Dan laid there shivering and trying to fall asleep for a good half hour before the hallway light came on an a silhouetted figure stood in the doorway. Dan sat up and watched Phil come in, weighed down with a couple heavy-looking blankets and two cup of what Dan assumed was hot chocolate.

“Can’t sleep?” Dan whispered. For some reason he felt like if he dared speak any louder, something would break.

Phil smiled softly at him. “Yeah. Plus, I remembered how cold it gets in here from when I was a kid.”

Dan took the hot chocolate offered to him, and he and Phil sat together watching the snow fall outside the panoramic window. They were silent until Dan heard a soft snore from Phil. He gently woke up the other man and ushered him back to bed. When he returned to the lounge, it seemed warmer than before.


	9. Sleigh Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan’s favorite part of being the Crown Princess of England was by far the yearly family Christmas reunion at Sandringham House. Her favorite part of the trip was by far the stable hand named Phil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings - Cis-swap fic. I was feeling extra lesbian energy or something that day I guess

Dan drummed her fingers on the armrest as he stared out the window at the snowy woods they were driving to. She freely admitted that she was exhausted from the train ride, but nothing could damper her excitement. Being Crown Princess of England had more than its fair share of benefits, but by far Dan’s favorite was the country home in Norfolk. It wasn’t as big as Buckingham and Windsor, but it was extravagant, and Dan loved every minute of being there. She’d loved it for as long as she could remember, but in recent years that love had grown quite a bit. Just the thought of black hair and blue eyes was enough to get her heart thrumming. She could nearly feel it beating in the back of her throat as they pulled up to the familiar estate.

Unfortunately, there was more to the Royal Family vacationing for Christmas than just putting their bags down. Fortunately, Dan was well-versed in the song and dance, and as soon as she was released out from under her grandmother’s knowing stare she was donning her coat and boots and making a beeline for the stables. Stepping inside from the cold air was like stepping into a sepia-toned dream. It was warm just to the point of stifling and almost instantly flushed her cheeks, and it smelled oddly sweet in a way she was never able to quite understand. She knew that the stables weren’t always like this, but for as long as she could remember stables meant a safe haven from the cold and wind when she was playing outside. For that reason, stables in winter would always feel like home.

“I was wondering when you were going to come see me.”

Dan turned around with a wide grin and suddenly her cheeks were pink from more than the heat. “Phil!” she gushed, rushing over to give the other woman a tight hug. Phil’s father had worked the stables at Sandringham House since before Dan was born, and he brought his daughter with him on more than one occasion. She and Dan had become fast friends, and when she took over her father’s job a few years back, it meant that she was here near constantly, which Dan of course adored.

“Miss me, did you?” Phil laughed, wrapping her arms tight around Dan as well.  
  


Dan chuckled and pulled back after they had gotten a good hug in. “Like you’re one to talk,” she teased. “You’re the one who had a countdown to when I’d be coming back.”

Phil giggled and tossed her head to flick her long fringe out of her face. Dan secretly thought she looked like one of the horses around them and fell that much more in love. “I never said I didn’t miss you,” Phil pointed out. “We both know that would be a lie.”

Dan smiled softly. “What are you up to?”

Phil looked startled, like she wasn’t expecting that question. “Oh, uh. I was actually going to come get you and show you, but you beat me to the punch.” She took one look at Dan in her fashionable but thin coat and matching hat and mittens, and she fondly rolled her eyes. “You rich people are never going to learn how to dress for the weather, are you?” she teased, grabbing her long scarf off the peg she had it hanging on and wrapped one end around Dan’s neck, almost to her ears. She donned her own coat and offered Dan a hand and a smile. “Come on, princess.”

Dan felt her breath catch in her throat as she felt Phil’s hand wrap firmly around her own and tug her outside. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see,” Phil grinned. Then she stopped and tapped her chin. “Actually, on second thought, I don’t want you to see where we’re going.”

Before Dan could comprehend what was happening, Phil slipped behind her and her eyes were covered with cold pale fingers. “Ph-Phil! What are you doing?” she sputtered, her cheeks flaming even more.

“Calm down,” Phil chuckled next to her ear. “I just want it to be a surprise. Trust me.”

“I do,” Dan breathed, letting her eyes flutter shut behind Phil’s hands. She let Phil lead her out of the stable and a little way through the snow. Thanks to Phil’s natural grace, they tripped and stumbled more than once, but they just righted themselves and giggled.

“Okay, are you ready?” Phil asked, her voice low and right by her face and her long hair tickled Dan’s neck.

“Yeah,” Dan said, and she desperately hoped Phil didn’t hear the waver in her voice. Without another word, Phil removed her hands and Dan’s eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. There was a beautifully ornate sleigh painted black with gold trimmings harnessed to two pretty brown horses in matching coats. Dan turned to Phil, her mouth hanging slightly open. “Phil, did you–”

“Yeah,” Phil interrupted sheepishly. “You were talking last year about how you wished you could go on a sleigh ride, and I just happened to find this one hidden away in storage this year. I got some help from Markus and I got it back together again.” Dan must have just stared at her for a second too long because she started backpedaling. “I mean, obviously we don’t have to if you don’t want to. You just seemed really excited about it last year and there was snow and I thought it was just perfect, but–”

Dan interrupted her by flinging her arms around her neck and kissing her square on the mouth. Phil froze for a second before she wrapped her arms around Dan’s waist and hugged her so tight Dan’s feet came up off the ground. They laughed, smiles pressed against one another, pressed tightly against one another as the snow fell gently around them. Dan finally separated their lips, but kept their foreheads together so their fogging breaths mingled between them. “Come on,” she smiled, looking into those bright blue eyes she loved so much. “It’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.”


	10. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil has some rather hard to explain news to deliver, but luckily Dan already knows. Hint: the news is that he’s Santa Claus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings - This is probably crack lbr. I haven't read it so I don't KNOW that, but how can this concept be anything but?

Phil shoved his fingers through his fringe and stared at the image of his mother in his hand. “Mum, I can’t just– It’s 2017! You can’t just drop this kind of thing on someone anymore!”

His mother frowned. “Phil, you’re 30 now. This is your last chance to get married and get back home. Who knows what will happen if you don’t?”

“What if I just come back during the summer?”  
  


“Oh, please. We both know that won’t work. Look, you’ve known Dan for eight years. Just ask him.”

Phil sighed and ran a hand down his face. “How exactly is that conversation supposed to go? ‘Hey, Dan! You know how I said I’m from the North? Well, I really meant it! My family is actually from the North Pole, and now that I’m 30 it’s my time to move back home and learn how to be the next Santa Clause!”

Phil’s mother frowned in confusion. “That’s pretty much exactly how I wound up telling your father. He took it well.”

Phil pouted. “I don’t see why Martyn couldn’t do it. He’s older than me, it should be him.”

“Martyn stepped down and you accepted the role,” his mother reminded him. “If you didn’t want to do this then you should have told the Commission years ago, not two weeks before your first Christmas of training.”

“What if he says no?” Phil asks quietly.

Phil’s mother’s face softened. “Phil, you’ve known this man for eight years. You’ve been through so much together. Trust him.”

Phil sighed. “Alright. I’ll do it. No time like the present.”

“I wish you had thought this way months ago, but I still wish you luck!”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Bye, mum.” He snapped his fingers and the whirling cloud of snow that he’d been speaking to his mother through dissipated. He heaved a sigh and headed for the lounge. When he got there he saw Dan with several boxes set up around him, looking critically at their belongings. “Uh, hey, Dan. What’s going on?” Phil asked cautiously, tiptoeing around a pile of unidentifiable things wrapped in newspaper.

Dan looked up from what he was doing and smiled widely. “Oh, hey, Phil. Just figured I’d get started on packing for the move. It took us forever last time and I don’t want to fall behind.”

Phil furrowed his brow. “Why are you packing?”

Dan cocked an eyebrow up. “Well, unless you have some kind of magic that would be of help, we have to. You said we might be moving at Christmas time, yeah?”

“I might have mentioned it,” Phil admitted. “But, Dan, there’s something you have to know first. It’s really important and might change your mind on whether you want to move with me or not. Hell, you may not even want to speak to me after this.”

Dan looked up at him, worry definitely present behind those brown eyes. He stopped packing and turned his full attention on his boyfriend. “What is it, Phil?”

Phil took a deep, shuddering breath. Here goes nothing. “I’m Santa Claus. Well, not yet. Right now my mum is Santa because it goes through that side of the family, but I have to go to the North Pole this year to start my training so I can take over when she’s done.”

Dan let out a big sigh of air. “Oh, _that’s_ what you were talking about. You scared the shit out of me.” And with that he went back to packing.

Phil let out a frustrated grunt and dropped to his knees in front of Dan and grabbed his hands. “Dan, I’m serious. In the next thirty years or so I’m going to be Santa Claus. I also really want to marry you and have you be Mr. Claus whenever I do take over the job.”

Dan just smiled and pressed a small kiss to Phil’s lips. “I know you’re serious, babe. I wasn’t sure when you were going to tell me, but I’m glad you did. Also, I’ve been hoping you were going to ask me to be Mr. Claus.”

Phil gaped at him. “How are you taking this so well? Shouldn’t you be calling the cops or something?”

Dan frowned. “I dunno. I’ve just known for a while. There’s just something about your family, and this was the only explanation. Also, you talk to your mom really loud on your snow-phone.” When Phil just continued to stare, Dan laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “What’s the Wi-Fi situation at the North Pole?”


	11. Frosty the Snowman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan has managed to get separated from his daughter at the park, but luckily he runs into Phil Lester who is also on the search for his own kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Phan child OCs are in this one! I love them

Rose was in so much trouble when Dan got his hands on her. There was no way she was getting off with anything less than a week – no, _two_ weeks of no TV. Not that it really much mattered with the TV as she didn’t watch much TV anymore. He could ground her from the internet, but she’d gotten to the age where she used it for school. He’d ground her from going out with her friends, but he also knew how important social development was. Regardless, he’d do something to punish her for running off. They’d walked to the nearby park to give her a chance to play in the freshly fallen snow, but Dan had taken his eyes off of her for a moment, and she was gone.

“Rose! Rose where are you?” he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He looked around to see if he could spot her bright blue hat in the snow, but came up empty. “Alondra Rose Harris Howell, you get here right now!”

“Looking for your kid?”

Dan whirled around to see a man standing in front of him, awkwardly holding out a hand to shake. “My name’s Phil. I’m looking for my kid, too,” he explained as Dan took the offered hand. “Ten years old, black hair, green eyes. Seen them?”

Dan shook his head. “Dan. I’m looking for my daughter. Twelve, blonde hair, blue eyes. Seen her?”

Phil shook his head as well. “We could help each other look, if you want?”

Dan gave him a quirked half smile. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

They searched together, chatting about the usual stuff you’d expect like weather and their favorite movies before Phil asked the question people always asked. “So, does is there another parent in Rose’s life?”

Dan did his best not to bow up, but he knew he failed at least a little. “No, I think I’m doing well enough on my own.”

Phil raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you are, mate. What happened to mum, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She’s adopted,” Dan said. “I adopted her when she was eight, and it’s just been the two of us.” He glanced over at Phil. “And Zach? Where’s his mum?”

“Their,” Phil corrected gently. “Zach’s mum and I were never actually married. When she found out she was pregnant, we decided it was over between us, and she gave up rights to Zach. She comes to visit them every now and then, but it’s been less often recently.”

Dan nodded. “Being a single dad can be tough, but I’m secretly kind of glad I didn’t have to raise baby Rose on my own.”

Phil laughed. “Babies are a lot of work, but they’re worth it. When Zach said papa for the first time, I legitimately cried, which made them start crying, too.”

“Was papa their first word?”

“Oh, no, their first was Christmas.”

“Neither Rose nor I know her first word, so she tells everyone it was giraffe.”

Phil grinned. “Rose sounds like a pretty cool kid.”

Dan puffed out his chest. “I like to think she is.”

Phil beamed at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but his attention was grabbed by something over Dan’s shoulder and he laughed. “Well, we don’t have to look for our kids any more.” He turned Dan around so he could see Rose stacking large snow balls with a younger child with wild black hair.

“Alondra Rose!”

Rose looked up, and she smiled and waved at Dan. “Hi, dad! Zach and I are making a snowman!”

“I can see that,” Dan said sternly. “Did you maybe think that you should have told me you wanted to make a snowman before running off?”

Rose looked sufficiently cowed at that. “Probably,” she mumbled.

Dan sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “Just… Don’t run off like that anymore, okay?”

Rose beamed up at him with those bright blue eyes that she knew would get her anything. “I promise.”

Mentally cursing himself, Dan smiled back down at her and said, “Alright, then, we’re going home.”  
  


“What? No! We just got here!” Rose protested, but at the look Dan gave her, she cleared her throat. “Er, right. Yeah, I guess we should be getting home.”

Dan chuckled and turned to go, but an arm on his bicep stopped him. He looked up at Phil who was flushed a darker red than Dan thought was healthy and almost trembling. “Mate, are you alright?” Dan asked gently.

“I think we should exchange numbers,” Phil said in a loud rush. Dan looked startled at the volume so he quickly continued. “I just– Zach doesn’t really get on with a lot of kids their age and them and Rose seemed to get along, so I was thinking that maybe they’d want to hang out again?”

Dan bit back the strange disappointment in the back of his mouth and glanced at Rose who nodded eagerly. “Sure,” he said, handing over his phone. He took Phil’s and quickly typed in his number as Dan Howell (Rose’s dad) and handed it back.

“Thanks!” Phil grinned, looking down at his phone. “I, uh, hope to hear from you soon!”

Dan nodded and waved as Phil grabbed Zach’s hand and led them in the opposite direction Dan and Rose were going. He really was looking forward to seeing Phil again, hopefully with winter break it’d be soon.

“Are you and Zach’s dad getting married?”

Dan sputtered and looked down at Rose who was practically smirking up at him. “I– What are you talking about?”

“You and Mr. Lester,” she said slowly, like she was explaining it to a child. “Are you two getting married? I think Alondra Rose Harris Howell-Lester sounds nice.”

Dan blushed, the cold air biting his cheeks. “I– We just traded numbers so you and Zach could hang out!”

“He was lying,” Rose said easily. “Zach has loads of friends, they just asked their dad to get your number so you two could talk.”

“Did you run off just to set me up on a date?” Dan sputtered.

Rose frowned, causing a wrinkle in her little nose. “Er, no. At least it didn’t start out that way. But Zach and I were talking and we want to be siblings, so you two have to get married.”

Dan buried his face in his fingers and peeked at Rose in between them. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

Rose practically blossomed with pride. “You should text Mr. Lester when we get home.”


	12. Run Rudolph Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan genuinely likes working as an elf at the mall’s Santa set up. It’d be better if the cute guy who plays Santa would actually talk to him, but things don’t always go the way you want them to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings ~ Talk about depression and anxiety and therapy/medication for them

Dan groaned and rubbed his temples. His mum had informed him that he was old enough that he would be in charge of purchasing gifts for all of his friends this year, and he’d winced when he checked his bank account for his birthday savings. So, he’d gone on the job search and discovered that his local mall had openings at “Santa’s Grotto” for elves. He’d assumed that he’d be way too tall for the job, but apparently they were desperate and decided that a tall elf was better than no elf. At first, everything had been great: The pay was good, he liked his coworkers, and the manager was nice and worked with his schedule. However, the manager was the one in charge of picking what music was played and she had a soft spot for 60’s rock, and her favorite was by far the song “Run Rudolph Run.”

As if on cue, the classic guitar riff sounded over the speakers. The parents in line smiled at the song and a couple danced with their kids, but Dan, who had heard the song 11 times in his three-hours of work, was not so enthusiastic.

“Okay! Santa needs a break real quick!” the manager in question announced. “We’ll be back out in five minutes.” She gestured to Dan and he followed her and the fake Santa into the back, his heart in his throat. There were a lot of reasons Dan liked this job, the only downside really was the music, but his favorite reason was now standing in front of him wearing a bushy fake beard and a cheap red coat.

“Hi, Phil,” Dan grinned, helping the other boy get ready to go out there before a line of scrutinizing children.

“I think you mean ‘Hi, Santa,’” Phil joked.

Phil Lester went to Dan’s secondary school, but he was a year older. Dan had had a giant crush on him since his first day of his 11th year when he’d dropped everything he owned and Phil stopped in the middle of a crowded hallway to help him. He hadn’t actually gotten a chance to talk to Phil aside from that as neither of them were very active in the extra-curricular activities the school offered. When Phil walked through the door to Santa’s Grotto, Dan had thought that all of his prayers were being answered, but that wasn’t the case. In all the time they spent together, Dan hadn’t been able to pry anything more out of him than basic greetings and pleasantries before Phil made an excuse and ran off.

Dan dutifully took his position at Phil’s side to help kids on and off his lap and give out candy canes. He prepared himself for the next few hours to be a pretty much silent horror show between him and Phil, but the other boy leaned over to nudge him. Dan looked down to see bright blue eyes sparkling up at him over plastic-y hair. “So, how many times has Maggie played ‘Run Rudolph Run?’”

“Eleven. I’ve been counting,” Dan answered without thinking. “I’ve only been here three hours, Phi– er, Santa. Someone please save me.”

Phil laughed and looked like he was about to say something, but a little girl walked up, and they both had jobs to do. “What do you want for Christmas?” Phil asked her. “Have you been good?”

“I’ve been very good all year. I kept track. This year, I want Dory Operation, a cotton candy machine, and a rainbow lights mermaid Barbie doll,” she said primly, reading from a Post-It note. She looked up at him and added, “I’d also like to know what your favorite cookie is so I can tell my mummy what kind to make.”

Dan blinked at her in surprise, but Phil rolled with it perfectly. “That’s very impressive. How did you keep track of how good you were?”

The little girl beamed. “I made a chart! I can show you November’s, if you want.” Before Phil could say anything, she’d reached into the little Hello Kitty bag she had on her back and started unfolding a sheet of paper. It was a page from a calendar for November with a number one to ten on each day in carefully written crayon. “I wasn’t very good this day because my big brother was bothering me and I pushed him and he fell down the stairs,” she admitted, pointing to the lowest scored day, which was an orangey-yellow three.

“That is a bit naughty,” Phil said sternly, looking down at her.

“That was the worst day, though, I swear!” she insisted. “Every other day I do my homework and brush my teeth and I’m nice to grandma!”

“Well, if that’s the case, I guess you’ve been good enough this year,” Phil chuckled, eyes sparkling. “I can promise that you won’t be getting coal in your stocking this year.”

“Thank you, Santa,” she said, looking almost smug. Then her eyes lit up and she tugged on Phil’s coat. “Wait! You didn’t tell me what cookie you like!”

Phil stroked his beard in thought for a moment before saying, “Snickerdoodle,” with a decisive nod.

The little girl took out her list again and carefully wrote that down. “Thank you,” she said, hopping off his lap. When Dan offered her a candy cane, she shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m allergic to peppermint.” Then she was gone.

“I think that was Hermione Granger,” Phil joked. Dan sputtered out a laugh, and only just managed to contain himself in time to help a mother set her baby up on Phil’s lap. He hopped back behind the camera to help get the baby’s attention and take a photo. Thankfully, the baby didn’t cry the whole time and the mother laughed and took the candy cane Dan offered her. When they were alone again, Phil said, “So, Dan, what do you want for Christmas?”

Dan grinned and said, “The souls of the innocent!” in a low, silly voice. He could only pray Phil got the reference.

A wave of relief washed over him when Phil responded with, “How about a bagel?”

“Nooo!”

“Two bagels?”

The rest of their shift passed with them trading bits between kids and just barely managing to focus on their jobs. When it was over, they walked together to the employee breakroom to get changed. They were walking together to the tube station near the mall when Dan finally crossed the line. “You’re awfully chatty tonight. What’s up?”

Phil quieted down and almost seemed to shrink back into a shell. “I- uh, sorry? I sometimes talk too much and it can get annoying. My bad.”

“That’s not what I meant at all!” Dan insisted, kicking himself for saying anything. “I’ve been trying to get you to talk to me for weeks now, so tonight was great for me. I thought maybe you hated me or something.”

Phil awkwardly cleared his throat, looking quite a bit like a meerkat. “Yeah, I promise I don’t hate you,” he half-chuckled. “I just, um– I have a lot of anxiety, particularly in the social department.”

Dan nearly bit his tongue off to keep himself from saying something stupid. “I, uh – What changed? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Phil shrugged. “I changed my meds recently because they weren’t working for me. They started really kicking in day before yesterday.”

“I get that,” Dan nodded seriously. When Phil looked at him curiously he shot him a wry grin. “I had to go through about twelve different therapists and prescriptions before I found the one that worked for my depression.”

“I didn’t know you were depressed.”

“That’s kinda the point of the meds, Philly,” Dan joked. When Phil groaned in embarrassment and hid his face in his hands, Dan chuckled and said, “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s not just neurotypicals who say dumb stuff.”

“Well, I’m glad you found something that worked for you,” Phil said with a soft smile.

“Me, too,” Dan grinned. “Hey, and you definitely don’t have to answer this, but what made you decide to change your prescription?”

Phil’s mouth dropped open in a little “o” of surprise before it split into a shit eating grin. “Oh, there’s this really cute guy I work with that I’ve wanted to talk to for months.”


End file.
